This is how I see things gentlemen -
Capoeira, regardless of the syle is a badass art. The conditioning needed to pull off most of the techniques is truly extraordinary. I don't believe, however that teaching Capoeira to the average guy as a method of self protection is useful in the slightest. You can show me all your Capoeira skills and wow me with the bollocks, but you'll never NEVER convince me that it is a viable method of self protectio.
Now, about head kicks, I personally do not think that high kicks should be taught or recommended for self protection. I do think that they can be used. Some of Mr. White's guys will take your head of before you even know it,with a hook, front, roundhouse or spinning back kick to the head in competition or anywhere else for that matter. I wont name names because most of the guys are way too humble to admit it.
I also used the example of Tohei Sensei of Aikido to illustrate the fact that prodigies do exist, but as John pointed out they are few and far between.
Atacks, you may quite well be a prodigy. Listening to you rant on, anyone would think that you the ultimate warrior. You may well be able to take on the army of Xerxes with just your left foot and be back home in time for tea and crumpets, but the rest of us mere mortals don't think your methods hold sway for the average Joe.
One other thing Atacks, you really seem to have a potato sized chip on your shoulder. I don't know anyone else here, who can start a debate on a Martial arts topic and have it turned into a racial thread.
Well,Idk about being a "prodigy" or taking on the army of Xerxes,but I can say with absolute 100% clarity decisiveness and truth that I have nothing but my shirt,body armor (for HRSP and LEO training) or my shoulder on my shoulder; there will never be a chip on my shoulder.And I would hypothesize that those who suppose there is a chip on my shoulder and that I turn martial arts topics into racial threads are more than likely projecting THEIR OWN misperceptions onto my posts.As I recall,THE MAJORITY OF CAPOEIRISTAS are White,light and Asian...and to me? They're ALL capoeiristas.Not exactly the most racist stance in the universe,I would think.
Now,I completely understand and empathize with you regarding the negative impression and questionable practicality of the more dazzling capoeira moves.Prior to learning them,I had that same thought...and after learning them? I streamlined them in order to make them more amenable to today's SD reality as I see it.These techniques serve the same function they always have,and as Flying Crane pointed out: these more dazzling moves are "shock and awe" techniques with cunning misdirection and setups.The most important aspect of this whole discussion is completely overlooked,and that is the INCREDIBLE FOOTWORK of the functional luta capoeiristas,which--when amped further by functionality and removed from the fragmentation of stylistic differences--make movements techniques and sequences which would initially seem to be the height of the most LSD-induced folly turn into feasible functional movements that have devastating consequences because the other guy has no idea that they're coming and can't stop them.This last part I cannot overemphasize enough and is the aspect of capoeira which turned me from a guarded,semi-on-the fence supporter into a devout believer.
The best way I can paint a mental image of what the functional capoeirista looks like is: fuse a boxer,bareknuckle MT kickboxer,Olympic wrestler fused with Judo and jujutsu,tkd,gungfu,savate,kali,street fighter,gymnast,and decathlete.Infuse him or her with all the dodges of a guerrilla warrior and smatterings of a krav maga guy.And that's about right for starters.The base of capoeira is very much like what you see in many other arts...and it can/does/will/has finished people devastatingly and swiftly using methods familiar to all MA's.But the moment you're lulled into a state of complacency or an opening for one of capoeira's more dazzling shocking techniques opens up in the defense of an opponent being belaboured by the more "common to other arts" attacks of the capoeirista? BANG.The omg fliptastic acrobatic wth-just-happend wth-izZAT?! move is in there.However,capoeiristas who are genuine functional fighters DON'T start off scrapping with backflips and other tomfoolery.Again,the conversation circles back to the fact that almost all non-Brazilians and quite a large segment of Brazilians have no idea of capoeira's effectiveness directly due to the essential need for secrecy guile and illusion capoeira of necessity cultivated of being a mere cultural expression which--when combined with Bimba's brilliant recruitment of the oppressors to ensure the actual survival of capoeira--put the public's perceptual emphasis on capoeira's cultural dance and acrobatic aspects and away from its utterly ruthless functional combat applications.Again...capoeira's history is replete with the details and specific events inextricably fused with Brazil's socio-politico-economic-cultural development.One must be quite the dedicated student of specifically African Brazilian South American and to some extent Portuguese history in order to get a better grasp of capoeira's history.
Now about head kicks...I believe that they're functional and the average person can do them if they (one more once,folks...wait for it...) TRAIN FUNCTIONALLY.I employ a 8-15 minute stretch-balance-agility routine in my class that will give you the necessary flexibility and balance to reliably clock people in the noggin with head kicks in no more than a month,if you come to train 3/wk.I think that we should train every one of our functional tools and employ them in our arsenal during combat,sparring,self-defense or whatever.It's a weapon that is sure to shock people and have quite a bit of success because too many people think that head kicks aren't feasible and thus aren't trained for combat...like people in the Octagon swore that flying ANYTHING, head kicks,spin kicks,back kicks, front kicks to the face,heel hook kicks,etc. were useless despite what we TMA types have been shouting for years.Along comes Anderson Silva,Cung Le,Lyoto Machida,GSP,Jose Aldo,Yves Edwards,Mark Hominick,Duane "the Bang",Bas Rutten,Chuck Liddel,Anthony Pettis,Frankie "the Answer" Edgar,Maurice Smith,Orlando Weit,Jon Jones,and lotsa others who escape me right now and alluva sudden head kicks,spin kicks,flying knees,switch kicks,sweep kicks,trip kicks,etc. are being done by everyone.This "I toldja so,you just didn't know how to train them" attitude is what I have toward head kicks too.We differ there,yorkshirelad,and that's cool with me.
